Goodbyes
by JonasGirl-1
Summary: SEQUAL TO 'GONE, MISSED, AND FORGOTTEN'. Shelby's gone, Nick's alone, and Delany and Juliette are left without a mother. Could it get any worse than this?
1. Chapter 1

8 Years Later:

NICK'S POV

I sat alone in my living room, watching a special of the history of Rock N' Roll. It was about 3:30 and the girls should be home any minute now. As if on cue, the bus stopped in front of the house and Delany and Juliette gracefully jumped off of the bus and ran to the house. They giggled at each other and ran into the living room and dropped their bags by the couch, and then continued to jump onto the couch and kiss me on the cheek.

"Hi daddy," They cheerfully greeted in unison.

"Hello, my princesses! How was your day at school?" I asked, trying to be just as cheerful.

They look at each other and said, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!"

"Cool," I said. This is what they said every Friday.

"So what's on the agenda for today?" I asked.

"Homework," They both said, and rushed up to their rooms.

Elvis came in from the backyard and barked.

"You just missed them," I said, looking at him.

He barked again and trotted upstairs.

"And there they go," I sighed, and stood up and went into the kitchen. I proceeded to make dinner. Not having Shelby around entitled Alice to become my housewife dictator. I learned how to clean, cook, and entertain the kids. She prepared me for the hormonal changes and fits that were to come from a teenage girl. It didn't help. The house, since Shelby's death, has remained decorated with pictures from the albums and of her and white roses.

I got out everything I needed and proceeded to prepare dinner.

Around six-o'-clock, the girls were done with their homework and we were sitting down for dinner. We said grace and began eating. Every Friday, we prepared a different meal from one of Shelby's cookbooks that I found in the basement.

After dinner, we sat in the living room with our guitars and played songs.

"Daddy, can you sing 'Hello Beautiful'? Mom said that it was her favorite." Delany pleaded.

I smiled. "Sure."

I strummed my guitar and let the words pour from my mouth naturally, like water from a water fountain. I played the last few cords and held out the last note, and cut it off when I ran out breath.

Juliette applauded enthusiastically and Delany smiled.

"Delany, play the first song that you learned." Juliette said.

"Okay," She smiled, and played the song.

She played it, sang too, and messed up a few things. When she finished, she smiled shyly and looked frustrated.

"My turn," Juliette announced.

"This is my favorite Jonas Brothers song," she said, and began playing the cords for the hardest song, to play acoustic, we ever wrote (A/N- I don't know if this is true.)- Time For Me To Fly.

So she strummed her guitar and began to sing along, sounding just like her mother. I couldn't help but smile- she was her mother inside. She looked like her mother, acted like her mother, spoke like her mother, played guitar like her mother, and even sang like her mother. It was creepy, in a way.

She finished and looked up at me, an expectant smile on her face. Delany looked at her and then looked down at her guitar, running her fingers over the strings. I clapped and Juliette giggled. Delany shot a look at her and looked mad.

"Is something wrong?" I Juliette asked Delany.

"You," She snapped, and stormed up to her room.

"Daddy, is there something wrong with me?" Juliette asked me, looking up at me with her big green eyes, tears filling them.

"No, no not at all," I said, and pulled her into a hug.

Where was Shelby when I needed at her?

"Let me go talk to her- you can watch TV." I said, and she plopped down on the couch.

I placed my guitar on the couch next to hers and walked upstairs. I pushed open Delany's door and saw her sitting her bed with a picture of her and her mother in her hands. The bed had a few wet spots, I'm guessing from her crying, and her eyes were bloodshot, along with red cheeks and a red nose. (A/N- Not like Rudolf!)

I slowly walked over to her bed and sat down next to her.

"Go away," She mumbled.

"I'm your father, and you need me right now, so, no." I sat, and took her into my arms, where she cried into my shirt.

"Now, what's wrong?" I asked, and stroked her hair, trying to calm her down. It's not that easy being a single father with a hormonal thirteen year old daughter.

"I want mom back," She said, and more tears began to stain my shirt. "She didn't even say goodbye! She never said goodbye! The last thing I said to her was 'I love you' and there is so much more to say. I need her. I spent the first years of my life with her. She was my only friend. No one wanted to be friends with the daughter of the girl who got pregnant at fifteen. Every mother in the community that we lived in wouldn't even let their daughters play with me, come over, or me go to their house. I was all alone and my mom was the only person there for me!"

I looked at the picture she was gripping in her hands and began to wonder what it would've been like if Shelby hadn't run away. She probably would've of married Joe, Joe would've adopted Delany as his daughter, and Shelby might just have been alive. I looked back down at the picture and noticed everything they were wearing. It was a picture of her and Shelby from our wedding.

Joe was falling in the background and Kevin was laughing along with Jessie. I smiled and laughed a little.

"You think that's funny?" Delany choked.

"No, not at all; it's just… look at Joe in the background." I chuckled.

"What background?" She asked, and cleared some of the tears from her face.

"In the picture; he's falling, you know, like he usually does." I explained, and pointed it out in the picture.

"Oh," She said, and a smiled appeared on her face, and her eyes brightened. She giggled.

"I'm sorry," She said, and hugged me.

"You should really apologize to your sister, she's the one that's upset, not me." I explained, and she looked up at me.

She sighed.

"Fine," She said, and hugged me again.

She lifted herself up off of the bed and placed the picture frame down on her nightstand, carefully. I smiled and she walked downstairs.

She was right- we did need Shelby.

I felt a pair of eyes on my back, so I turned around and was faced with the angel that had appeared to me eight years ago.

"You did a good job," She smiled.

"Are you going to show up when bad things happen?" I asked.

"I don't know- whenever God lets me. He said that we can only show ourselves every so often." She sighed, and began to back up now.

"You have to go already?" I asked.

"Yes. Nick, you know the baby I lost when I was pregnant with Delany, right?" She asked, and smiled at me.

"Yes," I said.

"I found her in heaven and she needs me right now." She smiled.

"I love you," I said sweetly.

"I love you, too." She said, and disappeared.

Why did she have to go?


	2. Chapter 2

I walked downstairs and saw Delany and Juliette holding their guitars and sitting on the floor. They were playing songs to each other and laughing with each other. I smiled and walked into the kitchen, taking note of the time- ten-o'-clock.

"Alright, movie time," I said, and the two girls looked at me with smiles on their faces.

"What are we watching tonight?" Juliette asked excitedly.

"Well, do you want to watch something your mom liked or something of your choice?" I asked, and took out some popcorn.

They looked at each other and Juliette smiled, as she turned her attention to me. "Definitely something that mom liked."

"Well, I know her favorites were 'A Cinderella Story' and 'August Rush'." I said, and Delany looked at me as well.

"Didn't she like 'Camp Rock' as well?" Delany asked.

"Yea, but she liked these movies better." I said.

"Can we watch 'August Rush'?" Juliette asked.

"Yea," Delany agreed.

"Okay," I smiled, and popped the DVD into the player and sat down between my daughters with the popcorn, which was in a bowl, salted, and buttered, on my lap.

Delany took a few pieces and stuffed them into her mouth excitedly. That's something Shelby would do.

I smiled and turned my attention to the TV screen, where soft music began to play and letters appeared on the screen as the music intensified for a moment, and then died down a little, but continued to play. The movie ended about an hour later and Juliette was asleep with her head on my lap and Delany was sleeping with her head on my shoulder. I smiled and stroked Juliette's hair, and placed a kiss on Delany's forehead.

I tried to move without waking them, but with no success. Delany moved and her eyes fluttered open.

"Daddy," She asked, and sat up, and rubbing her eyes. She turned to me and yawned. I looked over at the clock about the TV- twelve thirty.

"Yea," I asked.

"What time is it," She asked, and looked at the clock too. "Oh."

"Help me with your sister, please." I said, and she moved Juliette's head off of my lap, carrying her off of the couch and up the stairs.

I moved out of the chair and began to clean up the room.

When I was done and everything was put away and I walked upstairs and peeked into each of the girl's room.

"Goodnight," I whispered, as I peeked into each of their rooms, to discover both of them sound asleep.

I walked into my room, which I used to share with Shelby before she passed away, and plopped down on the bed. I guess I should change, but do I have the energy? No.

My eyes slowly closed and I slipped into a deep sleep, and dreamed about the memories that I had of Shelby and how everything was happy before she passed away.

It must've been morning, because I woke to two people jumping on the bed, Delany and Juliette of course, and shouting my name.

"Daddy," They said in unison, and repeatedly shouted it at me.

"What?" I asked groggily, and turned onto my back, and allowed my eyes to open slightly, but enough for me to see them clearly.

"Guess what today is?" Juliette asked excitedly.

Was it one of their birthdays? Did I forget something!? No!

I sat up in bed immediately.

"I didn't forget one of your birthdays, did I?" I asked, and they laughed at me.

"No, silly- it's Uncle Kevin's birthday!" They shouted.

Oh, right- November 5th already? Wow- time flies when you're talking to angels and raising two girls as a single father who got his wife pregnant at fifteen. Not to mention that that wife, who I got pregnant at fifteen, is deceased and her angel only comes in times of crisis. God, I'm losing it!

"Okay. Now that you remember, let's go downstairs." Delany said excitedly, and my two girls jumped off of the bed excitedly.

"Okay," I answered weakly and hopped out of bed.

The girls dragged me downstairs and pointed to their empty plates. I laughed to myself and they put on puppy dog faces, and then looked unsatisfied. I walked over to the kitchen and pulled out some stuff to make pancakes- Shelby's favorite and the girls knew it. When I was just about to finish up with the last one, the phone rang so I walked over to the phone hook and picked it up.

"Hello?" I asked, and looked over to the girls who were talking to each other about how hungry they were. I just shook my head and concentrated on the phone call I was currently involved in.

"Hey Nick it's Jessie." She said cheerily.

"Hey," I said.

"Listen. Be at our house at 7. I'm throwing a surprise party for my Kevy-poo," She said happily. Then, in a threatening voice, she said, "don't be late."

"Geeze, there's no need for the threatening voice," I said. "I'll be there."

"Okay," She said cheerfully, and then the line went dead.

"Wow," Was all I could say, so I put the phone back on its hook and walked back to the kitchen where my pancake was burning.

I sighed and threw it in the trash can. Elvis was immediately there and took it out, running out to the backyard like a new puppy who had just gotten a new toy.

I laughed to myself and served my now satisfied daughters.

"Surprise party?" Delany asked.

"Yea," I said suspiciously.

"Jessie told me yesterday." She said, and took a bite of her food.

"When," I asked, and took a bite of mine.

"She called yesterday to tell you and I guess that I forgot," She shrugged.

"Oh," Was all I could say.

She smiled and went back to eating her breakfast.

Delany cleaned up, Juliette washed the dishes, and I went out to find something for Kevin's birthday party tonight.

The girls stayed home alone, with Delany in charge, and did homework, if they had any, practiced guitar, sang to each other, or watched TV.

I picked out Kevin's present and drove home. I parked the car in the driveway. Walking into the house, I place Kevin's already wrapped gift, courtesy of the store, on the couch that is right by the door when you walk in.

"Delany! Juliette!" I call, and the two girls come running to me.

"Hi daddy!" They say, and each engulf me in a hug.

"Go get ready, please," I say and they nod their heads quickly, running up the stairs.


End file.
